5.16.2009

Craft-love

I've been up to all sorts of craftiness lately, inspired mainly by SouleMama, who is always quick to go to the "making" solution before the "buying" solution. This is an attitude I've held in varying degrees over the years, and it's almost reflex for me when it comes to food. But for other things, I just so often feel like I don't have the materials or the equipment, and when you add in the time it will take to assemble what I need and then do it, it's just easier to buy. I'm trying, though, to cultivate the resourcefulness and creativity to just make do, improvise and use what I have. And I'm finding that, like anything, it gets easier with practice.

It also gets easier with inspiration. And I've recently discovered a "crafts district" here in Hong Kong. Tons of beading, button and ribbon shops. More ribon than I've ever seen in my life. I'm hoping to find similar fabric shops ... but for now, the ribbon is more than enough.

So here's what I'm working on right now:

a scarf, made from a half-finished hat I've been carrying around since, oh, our boatshop days in Maine 6 years ago! Finally decided that even if I finished the hat I would never wear it due to mistakes early in the knitting, and so that yarn is finding a happier home, in a striped scarf for me! I've been collecting yarn for years, only occasionally knitting something, looking and planning and dreaming mostly. And feeling. Did I say feeling? I love to feel yarn. I brought all those skeins to HK and promised myself that the only way they were coming home with me was in finished form. No knit, no purl, no shipping.

a knitting bag, to carry around said yarn. Made from the ubiquitous Watson's Wine bags they give everytime you buy a bottle. I just cut off the Watson's label, "cuted" it up a bit, and changed the straps. Voila!

need to make said boy a sleep sack out of lightweight fabric for summer ... maybe use up some of the thin "flannelette" baby blankets we have in abundance, in the spirit of reuse rather than "buy more."

hi monte --- yes, it was me and the wet kiddies you saw yesterday in hong kong park...how lovely you witnessed such a very special day.

i actually saw you twice times yesterday...as you were coming into the 11am service i was greeting with terri and said to you (too late) "good morning!!! i remember those days of carrying a stroller up those steps!"

and then i saw you with matt as i was talking with olin (sheri's son) and figuring out various exit strategies as we knew that NO taxi or bus driver in their right minds would let us in!

how very nice to meet you and now that i have read your blog, may i say how great it is that you and matt take finn on so many great adventures.

It is only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith. … I mean living unreservedly in life's duties, problems, successes and failures, experiences and perplexities. In so doing we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God.